Southwest Spring Week
Phoenix Events

Event Notes

Thanks to everyone who signed up for the Phoenix part of Southwest Spring Week. We're excited that you've decided to join us for two days of navigation fun in the Phoenix area. We have three events this year, all at sites surrounding the beautiful Bartlett Lake east of Cave Creek, AZ. If you've never visited the rivers and lakes surrounding Phoenix, you're in for a real treat. The area surrounding Bartlett Lake provides a medium level of annoying prickly plants, but also adds beautiful views surrounding the lake. The 2024 Wildcat Fire damaged some of the vegetation west of the lake. The areas we are using have a little damage but remain mostly intact. The recreation sites surrounding the lake have amenities to make your stay comfortable, while the area has a vast amount of rugged terrain to explore. We hope you enjoy your visit.

Below are notes for Phoenix events at the 2025 Southwest Spring Week.

The following sections are included below:
1. EVENT LOCATIONS
2. MISCELLANEOUS
3. SCHEDULE
4. CHECK-IN
5. MAPS, COURSE STATISTICS
6. SCORING

1. EVENT LOCATIONS

There are three start/finish locations:

Day	Date	Start Times	Course(s) Close	Courses	Location	Coordinates
Saturday	March 15	12:00-14:00	17:00	3-Hour Score-O (7.6km/515m) Long Classic (6.3km/420m) Short Classic (3.6km/200m)	Bartlett Lake/SB Cove	33.868995, -111.618099
Saturday	March 15	18:30 (pre-race briefing) 19:00 (mass start)	21:00	2-Hour Night-O (5.7km/175m)	Bartlett Lake/Jojoba	33.839017, -111.638639
Sunday	March 16	07:00-09:00	12:00	3-Hour Score-O (7.9km/378m) Long Classic (7.5km/335m) Short Classic (3.9km/198m)	Bartlett Lake/Rattlesnake Cove	33.848081, -111.634971

2. MISCELLANEOUS

• Weather The high temperature on Saturday is predicated at 66F. Sunday is predicated a little warmer at 72F. Lows both days are in the mid-40's. Rain is predicted Friday evening, ending sometime Friday night. We should have clear skies both Saturday and Sunday. The rain will make a little softer footing.
• Entrance Fee Parking at any of the Bartlett Lake events requires either a Tonto Pass or an America the Beautiful pass.
  Information concerning the Tonto pass is found at https://www.fs.usda.gov/detail/tonto/passes-permits/?cid=fsbdev3_018733.
  More information about Tonto Pass vendors is found at http://www.fs.usda.gov/Internet/FSE_DOCUMENTS/stelprdb5331614.pdf
  Information about the America the Beautiful Pass is found at https://www.fs.usda.gov/detail/tonto/passes-permits/recreation/?cid=fseprd490925.
• Fire Damage As you drive to Bartlett Lake, you'll see that the 2024 Wildcat Fire did a number on the desert vegetation west of Bartlett Lake. During the descent to the lake, look to the north to see what a fire can do to the desert. It's quite sad. Our Saturday events at SB Cove and Jojoba were fortunately spared from most of the fire. The Sunday event at Rattlesnake Cove does have some fire damage to the west of the paved road. The fire cleared out the vegetation making the terrain more runnable.
• Snakes The temperatures are still quite cool. It's unlikely you'll see any snakes this weekend.
• Thorny Vegetation The vegetation surrounding Bartlett Lake is a medium-level of thorny. Most of the terrain is runnable, but you will encounter thicker clumps of vegetation, especially in the dry drainages. There are quite a few patches of everyone's favorite teddy bear cholla. We suggest you wear long pants or gaitors and bring along a comb to extract cholla balls from your legs. For the most part, you should be able to avoid the thorny plants. If you do end up with scratches or cuts caused by a thorny plant, we'll assume you did it on purpose for sympathy.
• Manual Punching We are not using electronic timing. We have manual punching for all our destination markers. We'll give you a control card at the start of the event. You'll register your visit to each destination by punching the appropriate spot on the control card.
• Cell Phones Cell phone coverage is spotty. We had 0 bars when we visited the start/finish last week. There is some coverage in the hills surrounding the start/finish. We encourage you to travel with a cell phone, for emergency communications and to take pictures. The views of the mountains surrounding the lake are spectacular.
• Disappearing Control Bags We placed many of the destination markers in the field earlier this week. We've had high winds in the last few days, so we hope all the bags are still where we left them.
• Aid Stations We have snacks and drinks at the start/finish for all races. There are no water stations on the courses.
• Restrooms Toilet facilities are available at all event locations.
• Early Race Termination If you need to leave the event early for any reason, please sign out with race directors at the start/finish. It would be really bad if we called out emergency services and spent time looking for you only to find out you decided to go home two hours earlier.

3. SCHEDULE

Daylight Period

Saturday, March 15
Sunrise: 6:38 AM
Sunset: 6:36 PM
Civil Twilight Start: 6:13 AM
Civil Twilight End: 7:01 PM

Sunday, March 16
Sunrise: 6:36 AM
Sunset: 6:37 PM
Civil Twilight Start: 6:12 AM
Civil Twilight End: 7:01 PM

4. CHECK-IN

All participants must check in at the event start/finish locations for each event. Participants will receive a control card at check-in. Once you receive your control card, you may proceed to the timer's table to start your event. We are not following exact start times, so feel free to start your event when you are ready. During the events, at each "destination marker" (control), participants use a manual punch to record their visit to the control location.

5. MAPS

Maps for all three events are similar to what you've seen on Tucson maps with one important difference. "Rough open" appears as white on the maps. Our maps don't signify rough open in the normal brownish color you see on most orienteering maps. Maps for the Bartlett Lake areas would normally show ~90% rough open. We're saving the world by not smearing brownish ink across our Barlett Lake maps.

There are many areas of green that appear on the maps. These represent small patches of difficult vegetation. The vegetation is mostly scattered across runnable terrain. If you're interested, the green on the maps is generated from a vegetation index on 4-channel satellite photos. The green represents areas of photosynthesis. In scrub forests like we have around Bartlett Lake, the green areas truly represent vegetation that is difficult to pass. Except when we travel to exotic places like Cincinnati or Washington, D.C., we are completely unfamiliar with trees you can run under.

The SB Cove map is new this year. We've also done limited field checking on all the maps. There are unmapped boulders, cliffs, re-entrants, earth banks, etc. on all the maps. We tried to place controls on clearly discernable mapped features.

6. SCORING

Saturday's Score-O and Night-O are scored one point per control. There is a 1-point deduction for every minute a participant arrives after the 3-hour time limit. For the classic courses, participants can take as long as they need to complete the course up to the course closure time. The day course at SB Cove closes at 17:00. The Night-O closes at 21:00. Participants that arrive after the course closes are marked DNF.

Sunday's Score-O uses normal Score-O scoring, with controls varying in point value (30, 40, 50, etc.) depending on distance and difficulty of the control. There is a 10-point-per-minute penalty for arriving after the 3-hour time limit. For classic courses, participants must arrive before the courses close at 12:00. Participants that arrive after the courses close are marked as DNF.